A chilling crime has stunned residents in suburban Oak Park, as two assailants shot and killed an 18-year-old woman in the parking lot of a gas station Wednesday morning.
According to police, two men approached Jailyn Logan-Bledsoe in the parking lot of a BP station in the 100 block of Chicago Avenue at approximately 1:50 a.m. Wednesday.
During the ensuing robbery, one of the men shot her in the head, and she was pronounced dead at an area hospital.
The two suspects stole items from her and then fled the scene in her Chrysler, according to police.
“I felt safe in the neighborhood, but I just don’t feel safe anymore,” neighbor Diana Alder said.
Many residents in the community are concerned after the shooting, saying that they feel that 24-hour gas stations in the area have been targeted by robbers in recent months.
“I am concerned about it being open 24 hours,” Alder said. “It seems like every time there’s a shooting or a robbery it’s done in the evening or the early morning hours.”
Community activist Andrew Holmes traveled to Oak Park after the shooting, saying that there is surveillance video that captured the horrific shooting and that he is working to support the victim’s family.
“You go from graduating from high school to Mother’s Day to Father’s Day and then you lose your life to these individuals,” he said.
Logan-Bledsoe recently graduated from Oak Park River Forest High School, and staff at the school say counselors have been made available to her family. Students can also sign up for counseling services in the wake of the shooting, with police continuing to work to find the killers.
“That family is going through severe pain,” Holmes said. “I’ve met friends up here that went to school with her, and they told me that this is a close-knit family, a very quiet family.”
No suspects are in custody, and an investigation remains underway.